ROANE ALUMNI LOCKE-MATTOX INDUCTED INTO NJCAA HALL OF FAME

The NJCAA recently announced the 2026 inductees into the NJCAA Hall of Fame this past week.  Raone State alum Bernadette Locke-Mattox was one of four selected for induction.  She will be recognized at the 2026 NJCAA Hall of Fame and Awards presented by Nufabrx, slated for Thursday, June 18, 2026, at 6:30 p.m. ET at the Hilton Charlotte University Place in Charlotte, NC.

Excerpts from the announcement at njcaa.org:

Former head coach of the University of Kentucky women's basketball team. While at Kentucky in 1990, she became the first female to serve as assistant coach for a men's NCAA Division I basketball team, when she served under Rick Pitino. She formerly served as an assistant coach with the Connecticut Sun of the WNBA. Played basketball at Roane State Community College (TN) before transferring to the University of Georgia.

Bernadette Locke-Mattox – Roane State Community College

Bernadette Locke-Mattox is a trailblazing basketball coach and former student-athlete whose career has helped open doors for women and African American coaches across the sport. The Roane State Community College (TN) standout continued her playing career at the University of Georgia, where she was the first female student-athlete to earn All-American and Academic All-American honors.  Locke-Mattox went on to become the first woman to serve as an assistant coach for a men's NCAA Division I basketball team when she joined Rick Pitino's staff at Kentucky in 1990.

She later made history again as the first African American head coach of a women's basketball program in the Southeastern Conference, leading the University of Kentucky women's basketball team from 1995 to 2003, and later as an assistant coach for the WNBA's Connecticut Sun. Throughout her career, Locke-Mattox has been recognized as a pioneer, mentor, and barrier-breaking leader whose impact extends well beyond the court.